Along with traditional American holiday foods, many of us bring a taste of ethnicity to the table as well. Whether it’s potato latkes and jelly donuts for Hanukkah, Italian seafood lasagna on Christmas Eve, Greek roast leg of lamb on Christmas Day or peanut soup for Kwanzaa, these foods tell a story of history, culture and faith.

Many ethnic dishes, like the Italian panettone, a bread flavored with pine nuts and raisins, and the iconic French log-shaped cake, la buche de Noel, are becoming quite popular on American holiday tables. Do these ethnic dishes make you both hungry and curious? Why do the French make a dessert shaped like a log? Sometimes, the history of the dish is as rich as its taste.

This Yule log cake sprang from the Celtic tradition of celebrating the winter solstice. On the shortest day of the year, an enormous log was burned to symbolize the rebirth of the sun. Years later in France, it became a merry tradition on Christmas Eve for family members to haul a log to their homes. They would decorate, bless, and sprinkle it with wine. Placed in the fireplace and lit, the log was used to cook the Christmas supper. The ashes were believed to have magical and medicinal powers, and were scattered under the furniture to protect the house from fires and lightning.

Symbolic of this bucolic rite, the cake may have originated as a simpler way of celebrating this tradition. Other stories credit Napoleon I with inspiring its creation when he outlawed the use of drafty fireplaces during a sickly cold Parisian winter. With no way to burn the traditional Yule log, bakers invented the cake as a replacement for their traditions of the hearth.

This delicious festive cake is not difficult to make. A long flat genoise, or sponge cake, is moistened with rum or Cognac-spiked simple syrup. Whipped cream is spread on top of the cake, which is rolled into a log. One end is cut off and placed on top to resemble a cut branch. The cake is covered with a buttercream icing and given a bark-like texture. Green holly leaves, red berries and a dusting of powdered sugar snow decorate the log.

Whether you are savoring the foods of your ancestors or adopting an ethnic dish to begin your own traditions, food, feast and family bring us together.

Celia Casey is a columnist for the News Journal. She is a graduate of the Paris Cordon Bleu and teaches classes in French cuisine. Cuisine Française, 850-934-7481 or visit www.celiacasey.com.

Making a Buche de Noel

Genoise cake

Ingredients

Jelly roll pan, approximately 12 by 17 inches. Butter and flour the pan.